I have a custom bed that i've built and i want to place fluorescent bulbs underneath to give it an underglow. ive researched putting actual fixtures underneath, but they are too bulky and would show. my only alternative is to wire the bulbs to ballasts and run them into the wall. anyone have any other ideas on how i can get this glow? the tubes would be mounted underneath the 2nd platform (the thickest platform - see pic) out of sight.

rope lights look like xmas tree lights on the ground and LEDs aren't bright enough. both aren't consistent enough to provide a uniform light.

i dont wanna pay out the ass for this - any ideas? any EEs out there that can help me? I don't really know the first thing when it comes to wiring shit

1/6/2007 2:48:13 PM

I have no idea how to help you, just wanted to say that is a badass bed.


(no homo)

[Edited on January 6, 2007 at 2:59 PM. Reason : ]

1/6/2007 2:55:30 PM

Get some under car lights and wire them up there.

There small and use less power than a regular fluorescent light, and run cooler, and come in neato colors.

[Edited on January 6, 2007 at 2:56 PM. Reason : ]

1/6/2007 2:55:50 PM

thanks - it took 3 days and 150$ in wood from lowes - PS lowes is the shit, they cut every single piece of wood to my specs for free - i didnt even have to take out a table saw. fuck home depot. and moron that would be pretty expensive - like $150-200, and i dont want to be sleeping on that many volts. if i wanna change the color - ill just wrap the tubes in stage gels, u know, like the kind they put in front of flood lights in theatre to set moods and shit, since fluorescent tubes run very cool.
any other ideas?


EDIT: yeah, ill need 6 feet of tube on each side and a 4 foot (or 2 2footers) at the foot of the bed

[Edited on January 6, 2007 at 3:02 PM. Reason : dimensions]

1/6/2007 2:59:56 PM

youre sure rope LED lights arnt bright enough? My dad used some in a home theater riser and they were bright enough to prove you wasted your time for the gay effect.

[Edited on January 6, 2007 at 3:28 PM. Reason : .]

1/6/2007 3:28:29 PM

right - its just that the light cast on the ground is 'clumpy', if you know what i mean, i dont want it to look like that

1/6/2007 3:38:43 PM

so put the led rope lights behind a diffuser

what kind of wood did you use for the bed?

[Edited on January 6, 2007 at 3:44 PM. Reason : .]

1/6/2007 3:43:41 PM

lumber for frame (2x4s, 2x6s, 2x8s) and 1/2inch ply composite (1/4 ply, 1/4 birch) stained and polyurethaned for the finished surface

1/6/2007 3:47:47 PM

just to add my .02 in.. that's a flippin awesome bed man, well done.

is there a name for that style of bed?

1/6/2007 4:04:16 PM

awesome bed...you want to build one for me?

1/6/2007 4:04:48 PM

hah, um, i don't really know - platform bed maybe?

i just needed some space around my bed and this was a cool solution, clock, wallet, misc, you can put that all on the platform. of course - that wasn't the driving force behind it. I just wanted something different and modern looking and i wanted to build something over break. it's my first stab at building furniture - it wasn't easy.

1/6/2007 4:10:18 PM

looks pretty successful from here man... i'm tempted to attempt something of the same nature on down the road... wish i had room for it right now but i just don't. have sort of a family history of making furniture by hand so i guess it's about my turn.

as for the lights... what about two rows of LEDs so that the 'clumps' would be eliminated..

so the bulbs line up like this w the ropes running beside and parallel to each other:

* * * * * * * *............
 * * * * * * *..........

[Edited on January 6, 2007 at 4:36 PM. Reason : ]

1/6/2007 4:36:06 PM

how expensive is that to make? are you sure it'll have the same brightness and luminosity as a straight up fluorescent tube?

so * is LED and ..... is what?

1/6/2007 4:45:29 PM

http://www.elwirebestbuy.com/index.html

Nice platform bed!! Did you use a plan that you customized or was it completely your own design?

1/6/2007 7:09:03 PM

As far as car-type "neon" or fluorescent tubes go, sure, the voltage is high (like around 15kV), but did you know that regular fluorescent tubes run at a high voltage too? Current is much lower on either one, though.

As a matter of fact, both car fluorescent tubing and standard T9/T12 fluorescent tubing use the exact same principles, though each one has different ballast design to be used with their respective end electrode configurations. Both also contain small amounts of mercury.

You can get custom lengths/shapes of small fluorescent tubing (such as the type used in beer signs, channel letters, etc.) in just about any color you would want. There are a couple of neon sign/lettering shops in the area (I actually bought my Integra from a guy who owns one), and you can get ballasts that will run on 120V or 12V. The cost will not be really cheap, though.

1/6/2007 7:51:25 PM

can you flip the mattress up and cook japanese food?

1/6/2007 7:55:00 PM

Quote :

"I have no idea how to help you, just wanted to say that is a badass bed. (no homo)"

1/6/2007 9:34:45 PM

Wolfridaah have you used that el wire place before? quality? reliable? bright? bc there are some good deals on there

1/6/2007 9:53:13 PM

* = LEDs, the "..." was just periods to show "and so on and so on" lol

1/6/2007 10:50:28 PM

the easiest and cheapest way to get illmination is going to be to use 12v cold cathodes. takes an computer old psu short the pins so it's always on and wire a few sets of cold cathodes to the 12v lines.thes are cold cathode so they run cool and run at low voltage. i would go with maybe a couple dual 12" kit on each edge.

thery are always on sale here
http://www.svc.com/logisys-12ccfl.html


i'll trade more info on this for more info on building me a bed like that.

[Edited on January 7, 2007 at 1:59 AM. Reason : .]

1/7/2007 1:57:09 AM

bump

1/7/2007 1:02:55 PM

I second the cold cathode suggestion.

1/7/2007 3:34:29 PM

ArcBoyeee, I've never used the lighting before. I remembered the site from when I did a search a while ago. I was going to build a headboard and was trying to decide between rope lighting and flush mounted LEDs. Never got around to building it though...

1/7/2007 4:24:30 PM

if i did get the cold cathodes - how bright would they be? comparable to fluorescents?

and how bright is 30,000 cd/m[squared] ?

1/7/2007 6:39:55 PM

Just agreeing on how sweet that custom bed is, but can it break apart for moving it out at some point? Seems pretty big and probably would be tough to get it out a door...

1/7/2007 9:51:33 PM

bed looks cool and well constructed and all, but seems like it'd be a bitch to get in and out of without banging the shit out of your shins

1/7/2007 9:56:43 PM

Quote :

"http://www.elwirebestbuy.com/index.html Nice platform bed!! Did you use a plan that you customized or was it completely your own design?"

Was the right answer. EL Wire is exactly what you want for this. Cold cathodes are going to be balls expensive and a pain in the ass to wire up a dozen of them safely.

1/8/2007 1:24:47 AM

^i was thinking of EL wire too. gg.

1/8/2007 1:59:03 AM

it breaks down so you can get it out of the doorway - each platform separates and then further breaks down in half

so - b/t

el wire and cold cathode - coldcathode being only ~35$ and elwire being ~65$ (for 17-18') white in color

which is the better investment?

1/8/2007 9:24:27 AM

^uh, http://vibelights.com

You can get 20ft of white 3.2mm with ez connector and inverter for 36 bucks. So it's the same price either way.

The difference is, el wire wont explode if you drop it/hit it. Would make the bed much easier and safer to move, and give you more of a glow effect than a CCFL

1/8/2007 11:30:06 AM

sry, i didnt know abt that site,

then that looks like the way to go

have you used one b4?

1/8/2007 11:41:14 AM

^^ that website is really cool fyi - lots of good shit and seems very easy to install

1/8/2007 12:05:28 PM

This is going to be pimp, dude.

1/8/2007 12:54:46 PM

check PM's

1/8/2007 1:27:57 PM

k, looks like im gonna get the ELwire - ill post pics when i get everything hooked up. thx for the help yall

1/8/2007 5:17:16 PM

i didn't realize el wire had come down that much in price
a coupld drawbacks to el wire is that it runs at a higher voltage and will only last about a year before it's brightness drops to about half or it's orginal.

[Edited on January 8, 2007 at 10:33 PM. Reason : .]

1/8/2007 10:32:47 PM

kick ass bed

1/9/2007 1:50:33 AM

i hate florescent light, it pluses and gives me a headache over time....

1/9/2007 9:50:07 AM

any suggestions on anything i can add/remove from the bed? criticisms on its design? what would you like to see on the next one? i think im already going to put 2 circular tables on each side by the pillows - the same diameter as the width of the side panel, about 6-8 inches off the platform, ideas?

1/9/2007 5:44:38 PM

got it all done with EL wire

3/22/2007 1:18:15 AM

that's awesome

3/22/2007 1:41:27 AM

that's straight pimp Arc, awesome job

3/22/2007 1:47:43 AM

thanks man

got the EL wire from vibelights.com

got here really quick

their site is pretty heinous though - took me a while to fig out what all i needed

3/22/2007 2:07:48 AM

that is a rough site, but thanks for the link

3/22/2007 3:45:46 AM

what size mattress is that?

3/22/2007 6:45:53 AM

cut out a plexiglass rectangle in the foot space and get some fish in it.

3/22/2007 9:12:16 AM

hahaha fish in your bed could be cool. or you could put a snake tank in there

3/22/2007 11:10:47 AM

Quote :

"you could put a snake tank in there"

I can see the darwin award now...

3/22/2007 11:26:35 AM

good job man, looks really cool

3/22/2007 11:48:32 AM

Quote :

"I can see the darwin award now..."

ROFL

3/22/2007 3:49:41 PM